About Us

The Oxford College of Arts and Therapies (OCAT) provides art therapy courses. These are online courses and are aimed at people who are looking to learn about art therapy, as well as those who are qualified art therapists and looking for post-qualificiation training and Continuous Professional Development (CPD).

We are developing new courses which blend online learning with in-person learning. These will be intensive residential courses, based in Oxford.

We were founded by Dr Val Huet and Lucien Stanfield UKCP FRSPH. Val is a very experienced art therapist, academic, and supervisor, and who has for many years been the Chief Executive of the British Association of Art Therapists. Val has taught introduction, foundation and degree courses extensively in the UK, as well as running trainings in France, Greece, Singapore, Spain, Russia and elsewhere.

Lucien is an experienced psychotherapist and founded the Claremont Centre in London, 16 years ago. The centre offers low cost psychological therapies to individuals across London and also provides a number of therapeutic groups, including art therapy, to older people. The centre was granted the Royal Society for Public Health’s Arts-in-Therapy Award in 2014 for its contribution to practice and research in the field.

Both Val and Lucien have a focus on the importance of relationship in therapy and on the primacy of clients’ own interpretations and understandings of their lives and experiences as a starting point for establishing real and meaningful relationship. Other faculty members can be found on our Faculty page.

OCAT is based both in Oxford and in London and our on-site intensive courses will be hosted in Oxford.

OCAT is a college of learning and not a university. Our college is not a part of Oxford University.

Our Courses

We currently offer four art therapy courses, with others in development. The first is An Introduction to Art Therapy, which gives a good basic introduction to art therapy. It is similar in content to what you might expect of a one-day training. The Introduction forms the first part of our more substantial Foundation in Art Therapy. This goes into much greater depth and is similar in content to a five-day on-site training. We also offer two Continuing Professional Development courses.

Gift Voucher: Introduction to Art Therapy

Here's what some of our users have to say

“I have wanted to become an art therapist since the age of sixteen. After now turning twenty-one and nearing the end of my fine art degree, I was caught worrying for my future due to being afraid of starting the next step. I was afraid of not having the knowledge to support my application for the degree course I needed to get into. It has been extremely hard gaining access to information and training for art therapy where I live which left me feeling at a dead end. I was introduced to these courses by a friend, and I am so glad I was! These courses have given me a major insight into art therapy and what is expected of myself and potential clients, I now cannot wait to train as an art therapist. They were informative, easy following, as well as professional, and I truly recommend them to anyone considering art therapy as their next career goal. After completing these courses I am excited and ready to build up my portfolio and get applying for the degree course that will get me into this amazing career.”

Katie-Jane Thomson
Margate, United Kingdom

“I have worked in establishing and promoting the fair trade fashion industry over the past 30 years and have seen slavery, child labour, the aftermath of war, and abuse of all kinds. I’ve also seen first-hand the healing power of people making art, doing crafts, and being creative. I wanted to learn more about this and chose OCAT’s courses because of the well-known faculty members and that I could go through the material whenever it suited me. I really enjoyed the courses and well-structured modules. I especially valued the videos of practitioners and clients talking about their experiences of art therapy. Clearly a lot of time and effort went into making these courses and for me they were worth every penny.”

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